Well the game was fun for about 10 minutes before I got sick of it. The game drained on me. I cheated to get to the end and my only reward was the programmer trying to convert me to christianity. Tough luck... I'm jewish...

allen pilgrim's "fantasy" is an abstract gather-the-purple-keys adventure in the style of tim sweeney's original zzt episodes. in fact, pilgrim would later be recruited to design super zzt's monster zoo, one of the most memorable of epic megagames' adventures.

you can see the roots of that game in the design sensibility of fantasy. there are recurring symbols and shapes; some parts (like the key puzzle and the "it's a small world" trip down the river) are copied almost wholesale.

though the "collect the four keys" structure means that the four major parts of the game should be completable in any order, you have to do quite a bit of work to reach the area where the keys are deposited. though you have a choice of your first key, you'll then have to work through three tough screens to cash it in or risk getting stuck because of zzt's one-key-of-a-color-at-a-time rule. (i did, and had to restore an earlier save.)

this world is tougher than monster zoo (i had to save and restore a few times to get through the very first screen, and i like that), but not unreasonably so. some of the purple key branches are much shorter than others, suggesting this game might work better as a linear adventure. which is in fact what monster zoo is.

spoilers: at the end, the author tries to convert you to christianity. pilgrim indeed.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Untitled Review

Posted by Anonymous at 5:35PM, May 19, 2018

This game is good. The part at the end is rather stupid (and short) but other than that, is good.